


Please Break My Heart

by tomlinbum



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Bets, Drugs, Hand Jobs, High School, Kissing, M/M, Shotgunning, Stupid Boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-07-08
Packaged: 2017-12-13 19:05:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/827784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomlinbum/pseuds/tomlinbum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis has been wanting to get the shy, nerdy Harry Styles in his bed ever since the first time he's laid eyes on him. He makes a bet with his mate, Niall, that he can succeed in getting Harry in bed with him before the month is up. Can Louis get Harry to have sex with him or will it be a bit more difficult than intended?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Breezeblocks by Alt-J. 
> 
> \---------
> 
> I'm planning on making this a short chaptered fic, but it might end up being longer than i intend it to be. 
> 
> Also, chapters will be longer in the future.

“So are you up for it, then?” Niall asks, getting Louis’s attention to move from the curly haired boy across the cafeteria to him.

“Up for what?” Louis asks, confused. 

Niall rolls his eyes, “Getting Harry in your bed, anyone with eyes can tell your interested, Lou. Always staring at him whenever you can. You’ve got to stop that, mate, ‘s getting creepy.”

Louis feebly rolls his eyes, “You know how impossible that would be. He doesn’t talk to anyone except for his mate Zayn and I barely even see them talking most of the time. He’s quiet and shy. He’s probably never even kissed another boy, let alone had sex with one.”

“Isn’t that a turn on, though?” Niall asks, head cocked to the side, “Don’t you usually like the virgins? Something about innocence or summat.”

Louis nods, “Yeah, but. He seems more difficult than any of the others. It’d probably be a workout just to get him to talk to me, let alone get him in bed.”

“I bet you couldn’t get him in bed with you before the months up,” Niall says, his voice challenging.

Louis considers it for a moment. Bets are nice, when you win them.

“How much?” he asks, eyebrows shooting up in question.

“100 quid,” Niall offers, “says you can’t get him in bed before the end of the month.”

Louis smiles. “100 quid says I can.”

And the deed is done.

\------

 

“You know you’re going to end up losing that 100 quid, right, Lou?” Liam asks.

Louis sighs, rubs a hand down the side of his face. “It’s worth the shot, though, right? I’ve been thinking about getting Harry Styles in my bed for the past year that he’s been at this school with us. It’s about time I act on it.”

Liam rolls his eyes, copying down the new slide of notes the teacher puts on the projector.

“Yeah, but still. I don’t think it’s quite nice to Harry, yeah? Like, would you like it if someone were betting about getting you in bed with them?” 

Louis bites the end of his pen. Damn Liam and his logic.

“Yeah,” Louis sighs, “But, Li. The bet’s already done. If I back out now, Niall’ll hold it against me for the rest of my life. The bloody Irish and their bloody memory, I swear.”

Liam frowns, “And if you lose, he’ll hold it against you. Either way, Lou.”

Louis smiles, “So I guess I’ve got to win, then, yeah? Have no choice but to get Harry to sleep with me.”

Liam shakes his head, “Don’t quite know why I’m your mate, to be honest.”

 

\-----

Louis thinks about the bet all day. Is it really cruel of him? No, right?

He shakes his head, trying not to think about it anymore. What’s done is done, and damn him if he doesn’t win.

He walks through the door to his house, almost tripping over a pair of running twins dressed up as princesses in the process.

“Give it back!” Phoebe yells.

“No! It’s mine!” Daisy yells back, hitting Phoebe upside the head with a Barbie doll in hand.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Louis says quickly, “What the bloody hell’s going on, here?”

“Language, Lou,” comes a tired sigh from behind him. He turns around and is face to face with his mum. She looks a mess, black circles under her eyes, her hair a mess.

“Sorry, mum. Have they been like this all day?” he asks, helping her sit down.

She nods, “Can’t get them to calm down. Can you babysit tonight, Lou? I’ve got the late shift at the hospital tonight and I can’t afford to call in sick again.”

“Of course, mum. I’ll watch the little monsters,” Louis says loudly, making sure that the twins can hear him. They squeal and giggle in return, chanting “movie night! Movie night!” and Louis smiles.

“Thank you so much, baby. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Jay smiles in return. Louis kisses her forehead in return, saying a silent your welcome, and turns towards Phoebe and Daisy, chasing after them.

 

\-----

The next day at school, Louis is exhausted, but he has to get his plan in motion.

Today is the first day he’ll make an attempt to talk to Harry, has to start off right away if he’s going to get Harry in his bed before the end of the month. It’s a difficult task, but it surely can’t be impossible.

He sees Harry sitting by himself at lunch, and wonders to himself where Zayn is. Zayn is usually always by Harry’s side, never leaving the poor bloke alone.

Louis makes his way over to Harry’s table and takes a seat next to him. Harry looks up, surprised, when he hears Louis sit down beside him.

“Hi,” Louis says, smiling. “Is it okay if I sit here?”

Harry blushes, “I – um. Yeah, I guess – I guess so.”

Louis smiles, taking a bit out of his cheeseburger.

“So, where’s your mate? Isn’t he always with you?” Louis asks.

Harry falters, “I – um. He’s not feeling very well, actually, so he stayed home today.”

Louis nods, “So you’re all alone, then?”

Harry narrows his eyes at Louis. “Why is that any of your concern, anyway?”

Louis pushed a button, then.

“Just curious, down kitty, put those claws away,” he says jokingly and Harry cracks a smile.

“Sorry – I just. You’ve never acknowledged me before, no one really has, and all of a sudden you’ve decided to just come talk to me out of the blue?”

Louis smiles, popping a chip into his mouth, “Maybe today was just a good opportunity, since your guard isn’t here today.”

Harry blushes, a small smile creeping into the corners of his mouth, “Yeah, okay.”

Step one, check.

Step two, in progress.

 

\------

Harry doesn’t talk to Louis for the rest of lunch. The trio just sits at the table, eating silently. Louis spares glances at Harry every now and again, and he knows Harry can see him staring at him through the corner of his eye if the blush that shades his cheek is anything to go by.

“Is it okay if me and my mates come sit with you and Zayn tomorrow at lunch? I think my mate Liam’s friends with Zayn so it shouldn’t be much of a bother, would it?” Louis asks when Harry gets up to throw his lunch away.

Harry pauses and turns to Louis, “I – um. I guess that wouldn’t be much of a problem, but aren’t you worried?”

Louis cocks his head to the side in confusion, “Worried about what?”

“What people will say when they see you hanging out with me,” Harry says quietly, as if he’s scared that if he says it, Louis will open up his eyes and want nothing to do with him anymore.

Louis is speechless, can’t make himself say anything in return to Harry’s statement.

Harry frowns and walks away, throwing his remains of his lunch into the trash can, placing his tray on top and doesn’t look back at Louis while he walks out of the lunch room.

 

\-----

“Would you two like to do me a huge favor tomorrow?” Louis asks, sitting in his desk behind Niall and on the side of Liam.

Liam frowns, “If it’s got anything to do with this bet of yours, I’d rather not.”

Louis whines, “Please, Li. It’s not much.”

Niall eyes him, “What is it, then?”

“I just would like the two of you to come sit with me tomorrow at Harry and Zayn’s table, that’s all. It’s vital,” Louis adds.

Niall laughs, “That’s right! I saw you go sit by him today. Didn’t seem like he was too interested into talking with you, Tommo.”

Louis groans, “I know, which is why I need you both to help me. It’ll be easier with you two beside me for my charm to work, come on. Please?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to be helping you get him into bed with you, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be awkward as fuck tomorrow and hilarious, so I’m in,” Niall announces, smiling.

Louis turns to Liam, eyes hopeful, “Li?”

Liam sighs, “I’m not proud of this, you know.”

Louis smiles, tomorrow might actually go well, then. With the help of his mates.

 

~~~~~

“You what?” Zayn asks in disbelief, his voice hoarse over the phone.

Harry sighs, “I told him he could bring his mates to sit with us. Come on, Z, you know I’ve got, like, the biggest crush on him. You’ve been telling me constantly since we’ve started to be friends to stop pinning and make a move. Now that he’s talked to me, you can’t be a twat and tell me that he can’t sit with us tomorrow. And anyway, I know you’ve got a crush on his mate Liam, who, may I add, will be accompanying us.”

Zayn sighs, “Haz, I’m happy for you, really, I am. But what if he’s just doing this to make fun of you or summat? I’m just looking out for you, mate.”

Harry pouts, even though he’s aware of the fact that Zayn can’t see him through the phone.

“Then,” Harry suggests, “you can figure out if he is or not tomorrow during lunch. Keep a look out for my virtue or whatever it is that you want to do.”

Zayn’s quiet for a moment, but then Harry hears him sigh, long and drawn out, and he knows he’s going to get his way. “Fine, but if I decide that he’s being no good, you’ve got to listen to me, yeah?”

Harry smiles, “Yeah, okay, Zayn.”

“Let’s just hope for his sake he’s not fucking around with you,” Zayn says and then Harry knows not to bring up the subject again until tomorrow.

 

\----

The next day at lunch, Harry feels as if he’s going to throw up from nerves.

He knows it’s a stupid reason to feel nervous; it isn’t like it’s a date or anything. It’s just lunch with mates at _school_ , for Christ’s sake. But anytime he’s in Louis’s presence, he feels nervous as fuck.

“Calm down, Haz,” Zayn tells him, pushing his curls off of his forehead. “I understand you’re nervous, but you’ve got to calm down, okay?”

Harry nods slowly, “Yeah – yeah, I. God, Zayn, I’m so pathetic.”

“No, sweetheart, you aren’t. You’ve got a crush on someone who is going to be eating lunch with us. It’s okay to be nervous, darling, but you’ve got to calm down a bit or you’re going to embarrass yourself and we both know we don’t want that to happen, now, do we?” Zayn says, voice soothing.

Harry nods, “Your right.” Harry takes a shaky breath in and then another shaky breath out. “Okay, I think I’m calm. We can go now.”

Zayn smiles, “Good, because as much fun as it is to hide in the boy’s bathroom with you, it’s not.”

Harry giggles and squeezes Zayn’s hand.

“Okay,” he announces, “Let’s go.”

 

~~~~~

 

Louis begins to feel nervous after they sit down and Harry and Zayn aren’t already there.

“Do you think they’re setting us up? Gonna get a right laugh from making Louis Tomlinson think that Harry Styles ever agreed to eating lunch for second time with him,” Louis says, breathing nervously.

“Maybe they’re just caught up, yeah? Calm down, Lou,” Liam offers.

“Look, they’re coming now,” Niall says and Louis really shouldn’t have turned around to make sure he was telling the truth, but he does anyway.

Harry takes a seat next to Louis and Zayn sits beside Harry, not looking very pleased about having anyone new at his table.

“Sorry we took a while, the teacher wanted to talk to me about my essay,” Harry says.

Louis smiles, “It’s no problem, really.”

And after that, conversation comes almost naturally.

 

\-----

 

“So, Lou, what are you gonna do, then?” Liam asks once most of them have finished eating, in exception for Niall. 

Louis raises his eyebrows in question, “About what, Li?”

Liam rolls his eyes, “Maths, remember? The teacher told you your failing. You need a tutor and I can’t very well help you, and you know Niall can’t. It’s a surprise he’s passing.” And oh, yeah. That was the plan, how could Louis forget?

“Oi,” Niall says, “I’m smart, Payne.”

“I could tutor you,” Harry offers, helpfully.

Louis turns to him, smiling, “You don’t have to, really. If it’s a bother. I can always find someone else.”

Harry shakes his head, “No, no. Trust me; maths is, like, my best subject. I’ve got an A in the class. It won’t be a problem to help you. I can whenever you aren’t busy or whatever.”

“Would today at… 4 be okay?” Louis asks.

Harry nods, “Yeah, sure. You can come to mine, I’ve got a spare maths book at home. We can order pizza, or summat. My mom won’t be home until 6, so.”

Louis smiles, “Sounds good. Thank you, really. My mum would bloody kill me if she found out I was failing.”

Harry smiles, “It’s not a problem, trust me.”

 

~~~~~

 

“This is such a problem, Zayn, what the hell is wrong with me?” Harry panics once he’s home. It’s 3:30, Louis should be over within the next thirty minutes.

“Breathe, Haz, breathe. You’ll just be tutoring him, yeah? Don’t over think it too much, okay? If it’ll make you feel better, though, I can come over? So you aren’t alone with him?” Zayn offers.

Harry sighs, “That would be perfect, but… he would know something was up, then, wouldn’t he? If I had to have you around when I’ll just be helping him with his maths work.”

“That is true,” Zayn says, “Well, good luck, mate. Let me know how it goes afterwards, yeah?”

Harry sighs, hopefully he doesn’t make too much of an idiot out of himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry tutors Louis and finds out he likes weird toppings for pizzas and Louis invites Harry to a party he's not sure he can even throw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was supposed to be 4k but i'm only short by 500 words. next chapter is when the good stuff begins, so fasten your seat belts, folks, because this is going to be a long ride!!!!!

When Louis gets to Harry’s house, Harry almost about dies of nerves.

He would have never of thought that Louis Tomlinson, the most popular boy in school (and the bloke he’s had a crush on since, well, since he’s seen him), would ever hang out with him, let alone visit his house.

Harry takes a deep breath, reminding himself that he’s only helping him with his maths, that Louis is only here so that he doesn’t fail and his Mum wouldn’t find out.

Harry gets up from where he’s seated on the sofa and goes to the front door, opening it after looking through the window to make sure that it’s Louis and not someone else.

“Hi,” Harry says, “Come in.”

Louis smiles at him (God, his smile is so bright and beautiful, how is this even real?) and walks in, looking around at Harry’s house.

Harry feels self-conscious for a minute because _Louis Tomlinson_ is in his house and observing and what if he thinks Harry’s house is a mess or ugly or.

“You’ve got a lovely house,” Louis states, turning back to Harry and smiling at him.

Harry smiles, closes the front door and takes a deep breath.

“Thank you,” he tells Louis. “I was going to order the pizza before you got here but then I didn’t know what kind of toppings you wanted so I decided to wait until you got here so what kind of toppings do you like?”

Louis smiles, “Bacon and pineapple, please. And let me pay for it, since you’re already helping me with maths. It’s the right thing to do.”

“But,” Harry starts, trying to argue, but somewhere deep down inside he knows he won’t win.

Louis fixes him with a look and then Harry sighs from defeat.

“Fine,” Harry says. Louis smiles.

Harry thinks _I like making you smile._

~~~~

 

When the pizza finally arrives, Louis jumps up to pay the delivery man for the pizza. Harry doesn’t know it yet, but the only reason why Louis is buying the pizza for the both of them is because this is a date, or at least Louis wishes it was because then he would be that much closer to getting Harry into his bed and, fuck, if he isn’t excited for that. Everything about Harry screams sexy; his brown curly hair (god, Louis wants to tug on that hair so bad, see if Harry would like that almost as much as he would himself), his vibrant green eyes (that probably turn such a dark shade of green when aroused that they’re almost black), and you can’t forget about his body (long, lean torso; pale skin; and his pert little bum that Louis is desperate to get his hands – and his mouth, possibly – all over).

“Lou?” Harry asks, getting Louis’s attention.

Louis shakes his head to clear his thoughts, “Sorry, blanked out for a minute.”

Harry looks at him funny, and if he suspects anything, he doesn’t say anything.

Louis makes a show of smelling the pizza and sighs, “Mmmm, pizza smells delicious.” _Almost as delicious as you taste, probably._

Harry bites his lip and nods, “I have a confession to make.”

Louis furrows his eyebrows, “Yeah? And what’s that?”

“I – um. I’ve never eaten a bacon and pineapple pizza,” Harry admits, looking away from Louis’s eyes, his cheeks a dark red.

“Harry! We could have gotten another one, you know. What if you don’t like this one?” Louis asks.

Harry shrugs, “I’ve got food here, I just. Since you were paying… I didn’t want to make you pay for anything extra that wasn’t really necessary, you know? I mean, you never know, I might actually like this. It doesn’t sound gross or anything.”

Louis smiles, “Let’s hope for the best, then, yeah?”

\------

It turns out that Harry does, in fact, quite like the pizza – a lot, actually. The large pizza is gone in less than twenty minutes, Harry having eaten more than half of it.

Harry blushes, “I’ve just made myself look like a pig.”

Louis laughs, “It’s perfectly okay, trust me. I’m mates with Niall, remember? Jeez, that boy could eat. And anyway, I’m glad that you liked it. Now I know that if we ever get pizza again, I can buy us this without feeling bad that you might or might not like it.”

“Next time, I’m buying,” Harry says and wow, Louis likes him when he’s in control and slightly bossy.

Louis smiles, “Okay, okay. Deal. Now, maybe we should start studying, yeah? I told my Mum I was going to Liam’s to play footie, and when I usually do that I’m only gone for two hours or so.”

Harry nods in understanding.

They throw away the pizza box, putting their dirty dishes in the sink and then make their way upstairs. Once in Harry’s room, Louis takes a look around and he finds it weird that Harry’s room is nothing like he’d thought it’d look like.

There are band posters on almost every inch of every wall around the room. Not one band is put up more than once. His bed sheets are a dark blue, almost black, color. His room is neat, which Louis definitely did expect, considering Harry always has all of his stuff in tact at school, never once has his uniform been out of place or untucked ever so slightly. He doesn’t have school books and school work all around his room like Louis thought he would have, but he does have novels and library books stacked up high on his desk.

“Your room is nothing like I’d expected it to be,” Louis admits, sitting down on the edge of Harry’s bed. Harry closes his door and, if it were under other circumstances, Louis would have been extremely happy about it, but for some reason, the door being closed makes him feel nervous and naked, like Harry can see everything that’s on the inside of him; that he isn’t hiding anything like he normally is.

“Yeah? And what’d you think my room would look like, then?” Harry asks, sitting in his chair that is slid snugly under his desk, well was at least.

Louis shrugs, “I don’t know, to be honest. Like, I guess I thought it’d be plain? Like nothing up on the walls and just a dresser and a bed, but your room is actually cool.” Louis freezes, noticing what he said and stutters, “N-not that I didn’t think your room would be cool its just-“

Harry cuts him off with a laugh, “I know what you meant. And I’m guessing that was supposed to be a compliment? So thank you.”

Louis smiles, “You are very welcome. Now tutor me, slave. Show me your brilliant-ness at maths and help me become smart so I can get a passing grade.”

~~~~

“So it went well, then, I’m guessing?” Zayn asks after Harry goes on and on for almost an hour about how bloody awesome it was that Louis came over and showed him a new pizza topping and complimented his room and _oh, god, Zayn, I think he may have been flirting with me once or twice – or, maybe I’m just imagining it all because there’s no way he could have been flirting with me, right?_

“Yeah, yeah. It was so well, I don’t know what to do with myself to be quite honest. Christ, Zayn, he is such a laugh and he’s so nice. I don’t understand why people say he’s a twat, you know? He’s perfect, really,” Harry says and he knows all that his voice is saying is _piningpiningpining,_ but he doesn’t really care.

“Maybe because he is, Haz. Look, I know you like him, okay? Trust me; I’ve heard you go on about him so much that it would be kind of hard for me to forget that you like him. But he is a twat, maybe not to you, but to other people. And his mates are, too. Well, not Liam. Liam’s nice and sweet and… but his other mates, Haz, they’re all twats and arses. And this is going to sound really mean, I know it is, but maybe you’ll thank me one day for telling you this, yeah? I just don’t think he’s got good intentions with you,” Zayn says.

Harry intakes a large breath, trying to get his breathing to slow down, because _Zayn is not saying what I think he’s saying, is he?_

“What do you mean by that, Z?” Harry asks, his voice soft and low.

“Think about it, Haz. He’s never showed any sign of knowing either of us existed unless he ran into one of us in the hallway or in the lunch room. He’s popular, Haz, and we’re… we aren’t. Do you understand what I’m trying to say, sweetheart?”

“He isn’t using me, if that’s what you’re trying to say. He’s not, Z, he’s not,” Harry knows it has to be true, but his voice cracks anyway.

“I hope he isn’t, Haz. Trust me, I hope he isn’t. I love you, yeah? Which is why I want you to be careful. I don’t want him to hurt you,” Zayn says.

Harry hangs up.

\----

Harry doesn’t let himself think too much about what Zayn had said because there’s no way that Louis is using him or whatever Zayn seems to think that he’s doing. Louis is too good and too kind to humiliate Harry. But the next day at school is still a bit awkward.

“So, did you pass that test in maths you told me you were having today?” Harry asks when Louis sits down at the table. Zayn doesn’t look too happy about it, but Harry doesn’t really care. He’s pretty sure Zayn’s jealous that Harry’s getting more attention than he is.

Louis smiles, “I did, yeah. Thank you, Harry, really. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t make an A on that test. It was the only way I’d be able to bring up my grade for this grading period.”

“It was no problem, really. If you ever need help again, you know who to come to,” Harry says, blushing.

“Yeah, I do,” Louis says, smiling, “Oh, hey. Um, I’m throwing a party at my place Friday. You two can come, if you want? All my mates and a bunch of other people from school will be there. There’ll be, you know, drinks… and weed. But, like, if that isn’t your thing you can come just to hang out with me. It’ll be a blast, honestly.”

Harry looks over to Zayn with a hopeful face. Zayn is frowning.

“I’ll think about it,” Zayn says, and Harry can tell it’s challenging, to see if Louis will try harder to get him to say yes.

“Well,” Louis says, “if you both don’t show up, it won’t be the same. Come on, please?” Louis bulges his bottom lip, pulling a puppy dog face and, wow, Harry is so smitten.

Zayn sighs, “I guess it could be fun, yeah, Haz?”

Harry smiles and nods, “Yeah, fun. We’ll be there.”

~~~~

“I invited him and Zayn to the party tomorrow,” Louis says, once he’s in class, to Liam and Niall.

“And they said that they’d come?” Niall asks, eyebrow shot up.

Louis nods.

“Didn’t see them as the party type,” Liam announces.

“Yeah, well, you weren’t the party type either until you became mates with me and Ni, so. But, like, do you think that’s the perfect time, then? Like, I could get him to dance with me and get him all riled up and then he’d sleep with me, and then I’m going to need that 100 quid from you, Niall, my boy, because I’ll have won.”

Niall shakes his head, “Not a chance, mate. Harry isn’t the type to just have sex with someone he barely knows.”

Louis looks at Liam to get his opinion. Liam shakes his head and looks down at his notebook.

“I don’t want anything to do with this. I still think that this is a bad thing to do and I don’t support either of you at all,” Liam says, sadly.

“Liam, it really isn’t as bad as your making it sound. It’s a win-win situation for me and Harry, I promise,” Louis says back, trying to reassure Liam. He doesn’t like doing things Liam doesn’t approve of.

“Yeah, okay, whatever you say, Lou.”

He doesn’t talk to Louis for the rest of class.

\-----

“Louis,” his mum says, tired, “You are not throwing a party here. Just because I’m bringing your sisters to Nana’s with me doesn’t mean you can go wild and literally throw a party. It is not happening, end of discussion.”

“But Mum, please! I promise I’ll put away all the valuables, and anyway it’ll only be people from school, they know I’d kill them if they broke or destroyed something. I promise I’ll clean everything. Please, Mum, please,” Louis begs, almost getting on his knees before her and literally begging, bringing out the pretty-pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top.

Jay rolls her eyes, “Why is this party so important to you, anyway? The one time I allowed you to throw a party you bitched about how you didn’t like throwing the party and it was so much better to just go to someone else’s party, why all of a sudden the change in mind?”

Louis sighs, his eyes looking down to the floor.

“Answer me and maybe I’ll think about whether I’ll allow you to throw a party in my house or not Louis William Tomlinson,” she says her voice hard and stern.

“Fine,” Louis sighs, “There’s this boy that I… like… and I invited him to come because I was planning on making a move on him.”

“Why do you need a party as an excuse to let a guy know you like him?” she asks, eyebrow raised and hands crossed over her chest.

“Because, Mum; when I’m not around my mates I feel… shy. And what better way to be around them but not at the same time and have enough confidence to tell him how I feel about him?”

Jay’s arms come uncrossed over her chest and her face turns soft and Louis knows he’s sold.

Jay sighs, “I guess you can throw a party, but hear my words, Lou. You _will_ pick up all the valuables. You _will not_ let _anyone_ into my room or the girls’ rooms. And you _will_ clean up every single bit of trash that will be left in this house when the party dissipates. Do you hear me, young man?”

“Yes ma’am, I promise to do all of the above,” Louis replies, smiling.

“And,” she starts, “if you… you know, I want you to be safe, yeah? No diseases. And I don’t have to warn you about pregnancies, thank god. And have fun, yeah? Because if anything goes wrong you won’t be having any fun for a very, very long time.”

~~~~~

“You’ve never even been to a party before, Haz, except for birthday parties, and those definitely did not have any alcohol, let alone drugs,” Zayn says, sprawled out on Harry’s bed while Harry sits in his desk chair, chewing on the cap of his pen.

“I know, Z, that’s why I’m going to need your help. What do people even _do_ at parties? I’m so lame, god, I don’t know anything. I’m going to be so out of place,” Harry sighs, running a hand nervously through his hair.

“What do you mean what do people do at parties? I mean, they drink, dance, have sex, let loose; which are all of the above, nothing you have ever done in your life.”

“Heeeeey, stop being mean. I let loose and I have danced before. I’ve tried a drink before, too. And you told me you’d never take the piss out of me for being a virgin,” Harry says, pouting.

“I’m not taking the piss. I’m just saying, mate, you’re going to feel really out of place at this party. But at least you have me to help you through it, yeah?”

Harry bites his pen some more, but nods none-the-less.

“So, are you going to tell me why you’ve got a notepad and a pen out?” Zayn asks.

Harry feels his cheeks darken. “I, um. Well, I was going to write some do’s and don’ts’s down, just in case you ditch me during the party. I want to know what would be appropriate and what is definitely out of the question, no if’s and’s or but’s.”

“Sex, definitely write that in the don’ts’s. I don’t care if Louis does like you and he tries to get in your pants, you tell him no. You’re virginity is important to you, Haz, and I’m not going to let you even think about giving it up at some party that everyone’s going to be drunk at,” Zayn says, his jaw hard.

Harry nods, “Okay, sex… don’t. What else?”

“Don’t do anything you don’t want to do. Like, if Louis or anyone else asks you to drink and you don’t want to, then don’t. If they pressure you or try to pressure you, and I’m not there, walk away and come find me. Or if someone asks you if you want to smoke weed or snort cocaine or do whatever else kind of drug that’s going to be there and you don’t want to, do the same with the alcohol. If someone wants to dance with you and you don’t want to, then don’t. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do,” Zayn explains.

“Doing something unless you want to… do and don’t, depends,” Harry says aloud as he writes it down. “Okay, next.”

“Um, I can’t really think of anymore don’ts’s, so how about a do? Have fun, let loose, and enjoy yourself.”

Harry smiles, “Will do.”

“Have you figured out what you’re going to wear yet? Because I’m pretty sure you want to impress Louis so you would want to wear something that makes you look better than you already do; something that’ll make you look sexy,” Zayn thinks aloud.

Harry frowns, “No, I’ve been freaking out about the do’s and don’ts’s all day. I can’t believe I forgot to plan out an outfit!” He hits himself in the head with the palm of his hand, how could he be this stupid?

“Calm down,” Zayn says, shaking his head, “That’s what you’ve got me for. I’ll help you find the perfect outfit, yeah?”

Harry nods and follows Zayn to his closet. Zayn opens it, turning the light for the closet on and checking out all of Harry’s clothes, even though he knows exactly everything that’s present in Harry’s closet.

“Where are your dark skinny jeans? The ones that cling to your legs and make your thighs look delicious?” Zayn asks, flipping through the clothes.

“Erm… I think they’re towards the left?” Harry says, grabbing the pair of jeans he thinks Zayn is talking about from the far left of the closet.

Zayn smiles, “Those would be it. And maybe you could wear the teenage runaway jumper? It makes you look hot.”

“A jumper? To a party?” Harry asks, eyeing Zayn funny. He wouldn’t try to make Harry look bad, would he?

Zayn nods, “Yeah, I mean. It makes you look hot, so it’s okay. But like if it were anyone else, they probably couldn’t pull it off. Just try me, yeah?”

“All black, though? To a party? Are you sure he won’t think I’m a serial killer or something?” Harry asks, running his fingers on the R of the jumper.

“Just trust me, Haz. You’ll look fit as fuck. Put it on, yeah? Didn’t Louis say to be there around eight?” Zayn asks, turning around so Harry can get dressed. He knows Harry feels uncomfortable when people watch him get dressed.

“Yeah,” Harry says, “What time is it?”

Zayn takes his phone out, “Fifteen minutes until its eight, mate. We need to hurry if we want to catch a bite to eat before we get there.”

“What shoes should I wear?” Harry asks, panic rising in his throat. Fifteen minutes until the time that Louis wants him to arrive at the party and he still hasn’t put on his shoes or eaten anything yet.

“The white converse, gives you some color but not too much,” Zayn says.

“Okay, we can go now,” Harry says after a minute of slipping on some socks and his white converse.

“You sure? You’re ready?” Zayn asks.

Harry nods, “Yeah, might as well get this over with, considering I’m going to embarrass the hell out of myself and fuck whatever I have with Louis up.”

“Hey,” Zayn says, calming, “none of that, yeah? What’d you tell your Mum, then?”

“That I was going to yours, which isn’t a lie, by the way, so don’t try to make me feel bad,” Harry says, picking up his overnight bag.

They walk down stairs, telling Anne bye, Harry giving her a quick peck on the cheek. They get in the car and go.

 _Let’s get this over with, then_ , Harry thinks while he looks out the window and prays to whatever God there may be that he doesn’t make an idiot of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated! thank you for reading! you can find me on tumblr @ lewistumlinsin (come be my friend it will be appreciated)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Firsts are done, parties are thrown and flirts are discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long. i took a trip to disney world for the week; i wanted to have it out before i left... but i was having complications. also, sorry this is kind of short.

“Harry should be showing up any minute,” Louis yells over the loud beat of the music, “Do I look okay?”

Liam gives him his usual I-want-nothing-to-do-with-this but he nods, anyway, letting Louis know that he looks good. Louis had picked out a pair of dark red jeans that clung to his bum, thighs, and legs along with a tight fitting white t-shirt.

“You said his mate Zayn was coming, too, right?” Liam asks as an afterthought.

Louis eyes him, “Do I spy a crush on Zayn Malik, Liam Payne?”

“No,” Liam says a little too quick to defend himself, a blush high and light on his cheeks, “We just get on really well. He’s… nice.”

Louis hums, “Yeah I bet he’s nice, alright.”

Liam rolls his eyes, “Okay, maybe I like him – just a little? I mean, he’s fit. Like, really fit. And he’s got like this amazing way of words when he writes in Lit and he’s just perfect. Don’t even think about taking the piss, Lou.”

Louis laughs, “I’m not, I’m not. I could set you two up, though, if you wanted?”

“No,” Liam shakes his head, “No, I – if we ever get together I want it to be because of me or him not because of one of my mates telling my little secret.”

At that moment, Louis sees Harry and Zayn entering the door, Harry looking around, presumably looking for Louis.

“Speaking of the devil,” Louis mutters, “I’ll catch up with you later, yeah, Li?”

Louis doesn’t wait for a reply, making his way over to where Harry stands.

“Hey! I’m glad you made it,” Louis says, taking in Harry’s outfit. It should be a sin for him to wear all black, Christ, how is Louis going to resist taking those clothes off of him tonight?

Harry smiles, “Yeah, sorry we’re a bit late, we stopped to get a bite to eat and Zayn couldn’t decide what he wanted.”

“Yeah, no, it’s okay. When I said eight I meant like the earliest be eight, the earlier the better, though, yeah?”

Harry blushes and nods.

Zayn whispers something into Harry’s ear, something Louis couldn’t try to catch even if he wanted to, considering the music is turned so loud he can barely hear someone when they’re talking normally let alone when they’ve tuned their voice down to a whisper.

Harry nods to him and Zayn walks away, leaving Harry and Louis alone.

Louis smiles, “Wanna go get a drink or summat?”

~~~~

Harry’s on just his second drink, and he is pretty sure he’s almost so tipsy he could be considered as drunk.

Louis keeps smiling at him, telling him about rubbish.

“Hey, have you ever smoked before? Like, weed?” Louis asks out of the blue, slurring his words a bit because he’s had way more to drink than Harry has.

Harry shakes his head, “No, Zayn smokes sometimes but I’ve never been brave enough to try it for myself.”

“Do you want to?” Louis asks, smiling at Harry hopefully.

“I – um. Sure? Trying it would be, trying it would be okay I guess,” Harry says and, damn it, he’s pretty sure this was in the don’t section of his notebook because he doesn’t want to try weed, doesn’t want to make himself look like an idiot when he chokes on the smoke or does something else equally embarrassing and stupid.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Louis reassures and this is Harry’s ticket out, but he doesn’t end up taking it.

\------

Louis brings him upstairs, entering a room that Harry concludes to be his. He turns on the light, closing and locking the door behind him.

Harry follows Louis’s lead, sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. Louis pulls a zip lock bag from underneath his bed, along with some paper and a lighter.

Louis puts a nice amount of the weed in the paper, rolling it up and then lighting it.

He takes a hit, breathing in the smoke and then after a few seconds, breathing it out into the room. Harry finds Louis looks extremely hot while smoking.

Louis hands Harry the joint and Harry eyes it for a minute, scared shitless.

Louis smiles and giggles, “Just put it up to your lips, inhale – but don’t swallow it – and then after a while exhale it.”

Harry places the joint up to his lips and inhales like Louis said, but not being able to keep it in his mouth for long because it burns his throat. He starts coughing – or maybe he’s gagging, all he knows is that it’s probably gross sounding and it’s extremely painful to his throat – and Louis takes the joint from his hands and smiles.

“Maybe this’ll be easy on your throat, yeah?” Louis says, taking a hit and Harry’s confused until Louis brings his face to Harry’s leaning in to kiss him.

Louis pries Harry’s mouth open, blowing some of the smoke from his mouth into Harry’s, sliding his tongue along Harry’s and swallowing Harry’s involuntary moan.

When Louis pulls away, Harry’s mouth follows his, eyes still closed. Louis rubs his thumb onto Harry’s bottom lip and then their lips are attached again, but without the reason for Louis to be giving him smoke the easier way.

Louis nibbles on Harry’s bottom lip and the movement goes straight to Harry’s dick. Harry can’t really help the moan that escapes his mouth, either, because someone he’s been having a crush on and practically stalking for the past year is kissing him and it may be the beer or the weed kicking in but he feels like he’s on cloud nine.

When Louis pulls away this time, his teeth have a grip on Harry’s bottom lip, letting go and then letting it snap back into place.

Louis smiles at Harry, then crawls into his lap, his hands tangling themselves in Harry’s mop of curly hair.

“Was that good, then?” Louis asks, his voice low and a bit hoarse.

Harry nods, leaning in to kiss Louis again. Louis lets out a breathless laugh against his lips, but let’s Harry kiss him none-the-less.

Louis kisses him harder after a while of kissing softly, just their lips making contact. Louis’s hand travels down the front of Harry, resting on the obvious bulge in Harry’s trousers.

Louis pulls away, his forehead resting against Harry’s.

“Is this okay?” Louis asks quietly, his hand rubbing at Harry’s hard-on through the two layers he’s wearing.

Harry can’t say anything, can’t make himself say anything that would be comprehendible, at least not with Louis Tomlinson’s hand on his cock.

Louis takes that as a yes, undoing Harry’s trousers and pulling Harry’s cock through the slit in his pants. Louis moans aloud when he sees Harry’s cock, standing high and proud.

“Mmm,” he hums, “You’re really big, Harry.”

He looks up to Harry making eye contact, “Can I suck you, babe? Wanna get my mouth around your cock so bad, please, please, Harry, lemme suck you.”

Harry’s cock gives a twitch to the thought of Louis’s mouth around his cock, but he remembers what Zayn had told him before they’d come to the party. _You’re virginity is more important to you than some quick fuck at a party, Harry,_ he tells himself.

“I want you to, really, I do,” Harry says, “But I can’t – you can’t. I just – I’ve never. I’ve never done anything with anyone and I don’t want my first time to be at some party while you’re high and drunk.”

Harry pushes Louis gently off his lap, pushing his hard dick back into his pants, biting into his lip when it catches on the elastic of his pants. His jeans are more uncomfortable with the less room there is in them, now, but.

Louis grabs his wrist before Harry can succeed in standing, “Don’t leave, not because I’m a twat, yeah? Just, hang out with me. We don’t – we don’t have to do anything.”

Harry nods and sits down, leaning against Louis’s bed and thinks that he kind of wishes they were doing something other than hanging out.

~~~~~

The next day Louis wakes up feeling like shit, and it isn’t just because he’s hung over.

He hopes that the whole almost-blowjob incident doesn’t push him further back into his plan because he’s only got three weeks left to get Harry Styles into his bed and damn him if he has to pay Niall 100 quid that he surely as hell does not have.

He sends Harry a quick text after he brushes his teeth ( _hey mate, sors for being such a twat last night; was way out of line. We’re okay, though, yeah? xx)_ and patiently awaits an answer.

_Yeah, it’s okay xx._ Harry texts back ten minutes later and Louis sighs from relief.

_Do you have any plans for today? X_ He asks. He knows he’s pushing his luck because there’s a high chance Harry actually is mad at him but doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he is.

_No… why? X._ Harry replies almost immediately.

_Wanna come hang out? I’ve got the house to myself the whole weekend and I’m lonely :( xx_

_Sure, I’m on my way x._

~~~~

“So, Louis wants me to go hang out with him at his house,” Harry says to Zayn who is still angry with Louis for the stunt he pulled with Harry the night before.

“Well, you aren’t going,” Zayn says, a scowl on his face.

“He told me he was sorry for it, Zayn. And I mean, it isn’t like I didn’t want him to. I just didn’t want him to at a party. He did nothing wrong and I’m not going to just ignore his existence for doing nothing wrong,” Harry snaps.

Zayn frowns, “Okay. I’m just trying to look out for you, you know that Haz. But you’re right. He’s done nothing wrong.”

“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Harry apologizes, “I just – I really like him. And I think he likes me too. And it bums me out that you don’t approve of him or whatever, because you’re my best mate.”

“I know, love. Just give me some time, yeah? I might start to like him. He really isn’t all that bad,” Zayn says.

Harry smiles, “You really think so?”

Zayn nods, “Yeah, I mean. He’s not _as much_ of a twat as I’d thought he was.”

“Ha-ha. At least that’s a start, then. Well, I’m off then. I’ll let you know what happens and all that,” Harry says, giving Zayn a friendly kiss on the cheek.

Zayn kisses him on the forehead, “Have fun,” he says.

Harry’s starting to think that Zayn is getting more and more motherly by the day.

\------

“Wow,” Harry says, “This place is a mess. My mum would bloody kill me if I ever threw a party and destroyed the house this much.”

Louis shrugs, “I’ve got the whole weekend to clean. And Niall and Liam promised they’d help me clean tomorrow before my mum comes home. Which they probably won’t have much to clean because I’m gonna end up cleaning up most of it tonight, but the thought counts I guess.”

“I could help you clean,” Harry offers, taking another look around. “I mean, it’ll be easier to clean if a clean freak helps you out.”

Louis smiles, “No, I can’t make you help me clean. It wouldn’t be gentlemanly of me. I invited you here to hang out, not to clean up a mess I’m responsible for.”

“But I’m offering. Come on, in a way it’s my fault, too. Considering I attended the party. I’ll feel bad if I don’t help you clean. And your friends’ll be happy that they don’t have to help you anymore and maybe it’ll get me brownie points or summat,” Harry pleads.

Louis bites his lip, thinking. “I’d have to pay you back someway if I let you help me clean.”

His tone is flirty, and Harry thinks that he means something other than money.

“I – um,” he replies, his voice cracking, remembering the night before, “I.”

Louis shakes his head, “Sorry – I shouldn’t have said that. That was out of my place.”

“No, it’s okay,” Harry says, biting his bottom lip, “I’m just… not used to people flirting with me. I mean – not that you were flirting with me, or maybe you were – I don’t know.”

Louis smiles, “For the record, I was flirting with you.”

Harry blushes, “Yeah? Why? I mean – like, why me? First last night and now you’re flirting with me? I just don’t understand.”

“You’re cute when you blush,” Louis says, hand stroking Harry’s scarlet red cheek.

“I am?” Harry asks and damn him for being so smitten, honestly.

Louis nods, biting his lip, “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

Harry doesn’t think, just let’s himself feel.

Harry nods.

Louis kisses him.

~~~~

Phase two, in motion.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings are confessed and dates are made. Harry also may or may not be a huge school girl with a crush on the biggest flirt ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so, my phone is broken, which leaves me with nothing better to do than read and write fanfiction. there also may or may not be another update tomorrow.

They kiss for a while, Harry not wanting to pull away just in case he’s dreaming or something equally as short.

When they do pull away, though, Harry asks, “So what does this mean? I mean, this is the second time you’ve kissed me since you’ve started hanging out with me.”

Louis smiles and rubs his thumb in the corner of Harry’s lips, “It could mean that I like kissing you?”

Harry frowns, “So that’s it, then? I’m just a quick fix to you? A snog?”

“Hey,” Louis whispers, eyebrows furrowed together, “You didn’t let me finish.”

Harry looks at Louis, waiting for him to finish saying whatever he wanted to say in the first place.

“I could just like kissing you… or I could actually like you? I mean, you’re cute and I do quite like you and it’s good that you aren’t shit at snogging. I just haven’t ever really been in a relationship, you know? And I know I’m shit at this? But I think I’m trying to ask you out? I dunno, you can tell me to fuck off whenever or whatever, but,” Louis says, rambling.

Harry smiles, “Are you really? Like you really want to, like, go out with me? Like on a date, and, like, be my… boyfriend?”

Louis sighs, “Boyfriend, Jesus Christ, that’s a first.”

Harry giggles, “But it’s a thing, right?”

Zayn’s going to throw a fit when he hears about this.

~~~~~

“So you asked him out?” Niall asks, eye brow raised, “And he didn’t completely tell you to go fuck yourself all the way to space or whatever?”

Louis shakes his head, “He agreed to go to the movies with me this weekend. And as everyone knows, I’m shit at dating. I’ve never dated proper since I found out I was gay. The last person I ever went out with was El and even then she called the shots.”

“Even though I don’t like this,” Liam starts, “I still think you should have done something more original than the movies for a first date. Like, everyone does a movie for first dates, yeah? And you don’t want to be like everyone else. You want to stand out, show him that you actually like him, even though you don’t. You want to make him feel special. Like, dream date special.”

Louis frowns, “I’m not romantic, Payne, you’re gonna have to give me more than that.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Liam complains, but continues, “Like, find out what he likes. For example, if he liked staying in, you could have gotten a meal or something prepared and maybe a romantic movie or if he liked the outdoors you could bring him to the beach and watch the stars with him and pack a picnic. But just bringing him to the movies isn’t going to get you very far. It isn’t romantic, for one, and also, snogging is very frowned upon in the theater.”

“So, basically, mate. If you want to shag him before the month’s up, you want to do something that relates to in the romance movies or novels or whatever. Like, do something that is noble to actually get you into his pants,” Niall says with a mouthful of crisps.

“Erm, I may have an idea, then? Like, I know that he proper likes me, like has a crush on me and all. So maybe he’d want to do something just us? Without anyone around. Like, maybe I could do the beach and picnic thing? Like, do you think he’d like that?” Louis asks, hand at his neck. He seriously has no idea what the fuck he’s doing.

Liam bites his lip, “I’m sure he would? Like, it’s a really romantic thing and I’m pretty sure Harry goes for romance.”

Niall nods, “Seems cheesy, too, and I can tell Harry likes cheesy.”

“Okay… but what am I supposed to bring to eat? I can’t cook and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like take out. It would make the picnic seem cheap,” Louis says.

“You’ve got a point there,” Liam says, humming, “Maybe like some sandwiches with crisps and some fruit? Harry eats fruit every day with his lunch, so I’m sure he likes fruits.”

Louis eyes Liam, “How do you know he eats fruit with his lunch every day?”

Liam blushes, “I – um. I may watch Zayn sometimes? Like, he’s just there in my vision – I sit facing them, I just. I have nowhere else to look?”

“Proper stalker material, mate,” Niall says, clucking his teeth.

“Oi,” Louis says, pushing Niall’s shoulder, “If it gives me life or death information it can pass for this once.”

\------

“So, I was thinking,” Louis says, once Harry answers his phone on the third ring.

“Oh no, that’s never a good thing,” Harry says, and it’s insulting, but he’s flirting, and, well.

“Oi, shut it you,” Louis replies, “But you know how we were supposed to go to the movies this weekend?”

“Are you cancelling on me?” Harry asks, his voice pained.

“No, no. I’m just… altering our plans a bit? You see, I told Liam and Niall about our date and Liam told me that going to the movies for our first date was unoriginal and not romantic at all, so it gave me a new, more romantic idea.”

Harry hums and waits for him to continue.

“So,” Louis starts, “I was thinking something along the lines of picnic at the beach on Friday night? We can eat and watch the stars and then we can go for a dip in the water, maybe even build some sandcastles, you know, call our inner-child.”

“That sounds perfect, actually,” Harry says, and Louis can tell that he has a shit-eating grin on his face.

“I can hear you swooning from here, babe,” Louis says, and he knows he’s swooning too, if the way that he’s been drawing shapes into his leg ever since he got on the phone with Harry says anything. But he needs to stop and remind himself that this is just all a part of a bet, nothing more. This is needed to get the shag of his life and an extra 100 quid in his back pocket.

“I’m not swooning,” Harry says and yeah, Louis can practically picture the bright scarlet that must be coloring his cheeks right now.

“You are, actually, but it’s okay. I’m used to it; most boys can’t help themselves around me. The perks of being irresistible and all that,” Louis says, a teasing tone to his voice.

“Oh, really, now? Actually, now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone swooning over you, to be honest,” Harry replies and is that jealousy Louis hears?

“Is that jealousy I hear?” Louis thinks aloud and Harry scoffs.

“No, just honesty, love,” Harry replies, but Louis can tell he’s lying.

“You aren’t a good liar, actually,” Louis says, “But it’s okay, jealousy is a cute color on you. Kind of sexy, come to think of it.”

“Really?” Harry asks, and it’s more of a squeak, to be honest.

“Yeah,” Louis admits, and really, he doesn’t like jealousy. Not really, considering his past with boys he’d sleep with that thought they were together and would get clingy and scare every boy that tried to get close to him off. But on Harry, jealousy is cute and sexy, and he kind of really wants to snog him right now.

“Oh,” Harry says quietly in return.

“So, um, about Friday? That’s good, then, yeah? Like it’s not too cheesy or whatever, right?” Louis asks, changing the subject as quickly as he can.

“Yeah, that’s great, actually. Like, it’s cute and I think it’ll be fun,” Harry replies and then adds, “Hey, Lou? I’ve gotta go, mum wants to talk to me. I’ll see you Monday at school, yeah?”

“Yeah, bye, babe,” Louis says and then the line goes dead.

~~~~~

“So, you’re honestly going to go on a date with him, then? After what he did at the party?” Zayn asks, aggravated.

“I told you already, Z, he apologized to me. I think you’re just upset that I was right about him actually liking me and you had a bad judge of character for once,” Harry replies. He’s honestly tired of talking to Zayn about Louis is Zayn is going to choose to be ignorant and not supportive like a best friend should be, but he knows Zayn would be peeved with him even more if Harry didn’t keep him up to date.

“Yeah, well, I’ve still got a bad feeling about this. But I’m glad he does like you, love. So you’re doing the whole beach and picnic routine, I take it?”

Harry rolls his eyes, “You say that like it’s normal or whatever. This will be my first date, ever, Zayn, and I don’t think I would care if he brought me to McDonalds, it would still be romantic to me. But if you must know, I find his idea extremely romantic and endearing.”

“And unoriginal, I’m afraid,” Zayn says.

“How’s it unoriginal, then, since you happen to know everything?” Harry snaps.

“Because, it’s cheesy. Everyone thinks that a night on the beach is romantic and good for a first date but all it really is is cheesy and unoriginal and he probably didn’t even think of the idea himself, considering weren’t you supposed to go to the movies with him at first?” Zayn asks, sounding frustrated.

“Yeah, but then he changed his mind. Look, Z, I don’t care if he thought up the idea by himself or if he had the help from someone else, all that matters is that he asked me out. Why can’t you just be happy for me?” Harry doesn’t wait for him to answer, saying a quick goodbye into the phone and hanging up.

He throws his phone onto his bed and decides to scream into his pillow.

Why does Zayn keep trying to make Harry feel miserable? Shouldn’t he be bloody happy for Harry that someone he fancies fancies him back?

~~~~~

The week goes by in a blur for Louis. Harry is clingy the whole week, which would normally aggravate Louis, but he finds it endearing. By Wednesday, the whole school is talking about if he and Harry are dating, which, everyone thinks is impossible considering Louis Tomlinson does not date.

On Thursday, to cease the rumors, when Harry comes up to Louis at lunch time, Louis grabs Harry’s hand, slotting their fingers together and pecks Harry’s shocked lips. Harry smiles at him and squeezes his hand, almost as if in question, _are you sure about this?_ Louis just smiles and kisses him again.

Louis spends all day Friday once he gets home from school preparing their dinner for the picnic, making sure that the fruits are all fresh and that the sandwiches won’t get soggy. He puts some bottles of water in with the food in an ice chest and then spends the rest of his free time getting ready for his date. Since there’s a high chance they’ll be swimming, he puts on his best swim trunks and a t-shirt and leaves his hair so that it fringes instead of putting it up into a quiff.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Lottie asks, standing in the doorway to his room, hip cocked to the side and hand resting on the door frame.

“I’ve got a date tonight,” Louis replies, “So get out so I can finish getting ready.”

“Does mum know you’ve got a date?” Lottie asks, insisting on pestering Louis more than she already is.

“Does mum know you’re being more aggravating than usual?” Louis shoots back.

Lottie smiles. “Enjoy your date, try not to fuck up too much.”

Louis gives her the finger as she walks away laughing and checks himself once more in the mirror before slipping on a pair of shoes and walking downstairs.

“Mum! I’m leaving! I’ll be home before midnight!” he yells to Jay.

“Okay, have fun, be safe!” she yells back.

He grabs his keys, wallet, and the ice chest and then he’s off to woo Harry Styles.

~~~~~

Harry waits nervously by the front door for Louis. Louis had insisted on picking him up, considering he was the one that asked Harry out on the date. Harry hoped that his attire was okay (swim trunks, a jumper, and a pair of flip flops).

When Louis pulled up into the driveway, Harry felt his heart drop. When there was a knock on the door, Harry immediately got up to answer it, but surprisingly his mum got there before he did.

“Hi! You must be Louis. I’m Harry’s mum, Anne. It’s lovely to meet you. Harry talks non-stop about you,” Anne gushes, Harry groans.

“Mum, remember what I told you?” Harry asks, smiling at Louis.

“Don’t be embarrassing, got it. And that’s my cue to leave. You boys have a good night, yeah? Have fun, baby,” she says, kissing Harry on the cheek, ignoring Harry’s groan of protest and walks into the other room.

“You ready?” Louis asks.

Harry nods, “Yeah, let’s go before she comes back and tries to get us to stay here and play games with her.”

\-----

Once they get to the beach, Harry starts to calm down and some of his nerves vanish.

Louis lays out a towel on top of the sand for the both of them to sit on, placing the ice chest in the corner of the towel. They sit down across from each other and Harry puts his hands in his lap, messing about with his fingers – a nervous habit he’d picked up in elementary school.

“So I wasn’t really sure what to pack, so I went with the basics?” Louis says, “I’ve got a sandwich for both of us and I packed a lot of fruit and water.”

“I like sandwiches, fruit, and water,” Harry says lamely and he suddenly has the urge to slap himself. Why is it that he’s acting so weird now, but every other day he seems to be able to act normally around Louis?

Louis smiles, “Good. I made sure everything was fresh and ripe so hopefully everything tastes nice.”

Louis bends forward to open up the ice chest and his shirt rides up, showing a small section of tanned skin and Harry’s mouth begins to water. He’s never thought about sucking on someone else’s hips before, but now that one of Louis’s is on display, he desperately wants to. But he’s never done anything like that before, and it really isn’t acceptable to do so or even have those kind of thoughts on a first date.

“Do you want some grapes? I’ve got lots of grapes,” Louis says, pulling out a container with green and purple grapes.

“Sure,” Harry says, anything to get his mind off of the sudden want to touch Louis’s hips.

Louis smiles, popping open the container, “Is it okay if I feed them to you? I saw that in a film once and it looked romantic.”

Harry giggles, “I, uh, sure if you want to?”

Louis wiggles an eyebrow at Harry and slips a purple grape in-between his lips and leans forward, feeding the grape to Harry.

Louis pulls away and smirks when he notices Harry’s confusion.

“I like to do things a little differently,” Louis says, a flirty tone to his voice.

Harry wants to kill him.

~~~~~

They eat for a while, talking and laughing about the stupidest things that they can bring into the conversation. After they’re done, Louis leans over and pecks Harry on the lips and smiles.

“Wanna go for a swim, princess?” Louis asks.

“Why ‘m I a princess?” Harry asks, pouting.

“Dunno if you’re a princess, but I know you’re mine,” Louis says, kissing under Harry’s jaw.

Harry giggles, “Let’s go swim, yeah?”

He picks Louis up, pulling the older boy over his shoulder. Louis makes a girly squeal that given the circumstances, he should be embarrassed of.

“Put me down!” he screams, hitting Harry on the back.

Harry runs to the water, “Okay,” he says, all long and drawn out and then drops Louis into the water.

When Louis surfaces, he is not happy.

“You’re gonna pay for that, Styles!” he yells, running after Harry in the water.

\-----

When it’s thirty minutes to midnight, Louis drives Harry home. Once they’re in Harry’s driveway, Harry turns to Louis and he nervously places a strand of hair behind his ear – which is so girly yet cute Louis doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“Thank you, for tonight. I had a lot of fun,” Harry says and then he’s kissing Louis.

Louis places a hand on Harry’s cheek, taking the kiss slow and making it meaningful. If he’s going to succeed in this bet, he needs to make Harry think that he likes him doesn’t he?

Louis pulls away and smiles, “Goodnight, and for the record, I had fun, too.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry watches Louis get dressed and stays for dinner. Louis is going to lose his control sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a little spoiler: the next chapter will have some sexy-time in it!!! sorry for the shortness of this chapter, the next one will be at least 3k i promise!

After the date, Louis and Harry start spending more time together. Harry comes to Louis’s house on Wednesday (meeting his mum, unfortunately, which was probably the most embarrassing thing that Louis has ever endured) to play footie with Louis, Liam, and Niall. Zayn tags along, which Louis isn’t very happy about considering he knows that Zayn doesn’t approve of his and Harry’s relationship (Harry tells Louis everything, okay).

Harry ends up not playing, but watching Louis and Niall play against Liam and Zayn. And if Louis takes off his shirt, it isn’t because it’s too hot outside with it on. Harry looks stares at Louis a little too intently after the shirt is discarded and Louis smirks in triumph.

“Oi, this isn’t a bloody porn show, mate, put your shirt back on,” Niall yells at him, hitting him in the stomach.

“Trust me, mate, I know it isn’t. If it were I wouldn’t be the only one half naked right now,” Louis winks at Harry as he says it and Harry’s cheeks burn red as he bites his lip.

“Stop flirting, we’ve got a game to play here!” Zayn yells at the both of them.

Louis laughs.

~~~~~~

Harry isn’t sure how he’s sitting so close to a shirtless Louis without having a hard-on.

After their game of footie ended, Louis happy with winning, had thrown himself into Harry’s lap, arms wrapped around his neck and kissed Harry hard on the lips.

Now, Louis is rested in Harry’s lap, the other’s sitting around them. Every time Louis laughs, his whole body shakes with it and it vibrates through every inch of Harry’s body.

“Are you boys hungry? I’m just about to start dinner and if any of you are staying, I need to know,” Jay says, popping her head out of the back door.

“Harry’ll stay,” Louis offers and honestly, Harry’s heart drops at the proposal. How the hell is he supposed to sit through dinner with Louis’s family?

“Do you boys want to stay, too? It’s honestly no bother, the more the merrier,” Jay offers with a loving smile on her face.

“No, that’s okay, Jay. I think I’ll stick this one out,” Niall says and Liam hums in agreement.

Jay looks to Zayn, “It may be your first time here, but you’re welcome to stay for dinner if you’d like.”

“No thank you, Mrs. Tomlinson. I’ve got to get home sometime soon,” Zayn replies, sneaking a sideways glance over to Harry.

Harry frowns because he could have really used his best mate’s comforting.

“Ah, okay. Well, I’m glad you’re staying, Harry. It’ll give me a chance to know about my son’s first boyfriend,” Jay gushes, proudly, like Louis has won an award or something. It makes Harry blush.

“Mum,” Louis groans, hiding his face in the column of Harry’s throat.

“Okay, okay. I’m leaving,” Jay responds and then her head is gone and the door is closed.

“Lou’s going soft on us, Li, got himself his first boyfriend and everything,” Niall wipes away a pretend tear, “Our little boy is growing up!”

Liam hits Niall on the shoulder, “Behave. And anyway, you’re just jealous that Lou can find someone that likes him but you can’t.”

Niall huffs, “Thought we all agreed to never bring that up again.”

“We never said who exactly you can’t find to like you,” Louis points out, “But, cough, Amy, cough.”

“I liked old Louis better, this Louis is turning into a twat,” Niall pouts, arms crossed against his chest.

“Who’s Amy?” Harry asks, confused. He doesn’t think he knows anyone named Amy.

“She was our teacher in sixth year, Niall fell for her – hard. But considering she was our teacher, and there was a huge age difference, she couldn’t be with Niall. And she didn’t even feel the same about him, even though he kept telling himself that she just said she didn’t like him because she didn’t want to lose her job or go to jail,” Louis tells him.

“The saddest thing or my life,” Niall nods.

\----------

After everyone leaves, Harry and Louis are left alone and Harry is pretty sure that Louis can feel his heart beat beating halfway out of his chest.

“I’ve got to admit, I’m extremely nervous about this dinner with your mum thing,” Harry admits as Louis presses light kisses to the underneath of his jaw.

“And my sisters,” Louis reminds him, “But don’t be worried, my mum’s in love with you already. You’ll be okay; anyway, if you just be your charming self, you’ll be perfectly fine.”

“You think I’m charming?” Harry asks, his hands tightening on Louis’s hips as Louis bites into the skin above his collarbone.

Louis hums, “Everyone does, love. It’s surprising that you have no idea just how charming you are, honestly.”

“Because I’m not?” Harry says, because honestly, he isn’t. He’s just awkward and weird and quiet and nerdy and sometimes he can be cool but charming? He’s not charming.

“Oh, but you are,” Louis says and kisses his way up to Harry’s lips, “You’re the most charming person I know and you don’t even do it on purpose.”

“But I’m n-“ Harry starts, but his argument is interrupted by Jay’s yell of “Boy’s! Dinner is ready!”

“Alright, come on, time to eat,” Louis says and presses a kiss to Harry’s lips, “But first I need to get changed, come with me?”

And jesus, it’s the most innocent question Harry has ever been asked, but somehow it sounds so dirty coming from Louis’s lips.

~~~~~

Louis isn’t quite sure why he invited Harry up to his room to watch him get dressed. He guesses somewhere in the back of his mind that it would have sped up the process a bit, that maybe Harry would have wanted to do something with the fact that Louis was naked before him, but now that the chance has come, Louis feels nervous for some unknown reason.

He’s never been nervous to be naked in front of someone (and for fuck’s sake, he isn’t going to be naked in front of him, he’ll still have his pants on) but he has little jumbled up butterflies in his stomach the closer and closer he and Harry get to his room.

It wasn’t like Harry hadn’t really seen his body, considering at the moment he was shirtless and wearing shorts, showing off more of his body than he normally would. But the fact of getting dressed in front of Harry was just so… intimate.

Once they were in Louis’s room, Louis waked to his closet, pulling out a jumper and a pair of trousers. He pulled his shorts off, trying to make himself look as sexy as he could, his arse on display for Harry. He was turned with his back to Harry, but he could practically feel Harry’s eyes glued to his bum. He bent over to pull on his trousers, zipping and buttoning them up and then pulled on his gray knitted jumper.

When Louis turned around, he caught Harry staring at him and smirked.

“See something you like?” Louis asks, smug. At least his plan sort of worked out, if the way that Harry has his hands placed over his lap is any indication.

“Erm,” Harry replies, blushing.

Louis shakes his head, laughing, and straddles Harry, “It’s okay if you were watching, actually, I think I would have been a little disappointed if you hadn’t been.”

Louis can practically hear Harry’s gulp and decides to be cheeky and move Harry’s hands from his lap and pretends to be shocked when he feels Harry’s boner push into his bum.

“Oh,” Louis gasps, “You really saw something you liked, didn’t you?”

And of course, at that very moment, Daisy and Phoebe decide to barge into his room, bouncing everywhere.

“Mum said to come tell you that dinner’s ready!” Daisy yells and Phoebe nods her head, quickly.

“So come eat!” they both yell at the same time.

Once they’ve left the room, Louis groans and places his head on Harry’s shoulder.

“Guess that’s our cue to go eat, then,” Louis says.

Harry looks like a deer caught in the head lights.

\------

Dinner goes well, if that would be the correct word to refer to.

Harry is nervous for the first five minutes, but then he ends up getting used to being around Louis’s mum and sisters. Jay gives Harry the third degree, asking him questions about himself and how long he’s liked Louis and all kinds of personal questions. Louis finds out that Harry’s had a crush on Louis since the first time he saw him on his first day at school last year. He also finds out some more things about Harry that are good to know that he tucks into his pocket for later.

When dinner’s done, Louis walks Harry to his car.

“Thank you for dinner, honestly, your family is lovely. I’m really glad I stayed,” Harry says in between kisses. Louis has Harry pushed against his car and honestly, he wishes he could finish what they started in their room earlier. He’s not sure how much longer he can hold off without getting Harry in his bed, because Harry is probably the sexiest person that Louis has ever seen in his life and the fact that Harry doesn’t even know how insane he drives Louis is terrible all in itself.

“I’ve got the house to myself Friday night,” Louis says, kissing down Harry’s neck, “Come, please?”

“I – um – Lou. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,” Harry says and Louis stops kissing his neck. He’s got to calm himself down, slow down a bit or he’ll fuck the whole process up and then he’ll be 100 quid less in his pocket.

“Right, god, I’m sorry. I just – I got carried away. You – we don’t have to do anything, you know that right? You could just come over and we could watch a movie or something. I promise to keep myself under control, unless you decide otherwise,” Louis says, looking Harry in the eye the whole time. He’s got to make it look like he actually cares about Harry’s purity, doesn’t he?

Harry bites his lip, but his smile comes through anyway, “Yeah – yeah, that’ll be fine. I’ll make sure to come.”

Louis pecks him on the lips once more before finally letting Harry get into his car. He watches Harry drive off and then he runs up to his room, because honestly, if he’s going to keep himself under control, he’s going to have to have a nice good wank to get rid of all the dirty thoughts he’s been having lately about Harry bloody Styles.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions are made, orgasms are shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wooo! we're getting to the good stuff, boys and girls! strap yourselves in because the rest is going to be an emotional roller coaster!!!! good luck!! (i should hand out the rest of the chapters with chocolates and maybe some tissues for the future chapters, because some of you are going to need it) spoilers, sors.

The next day at school is more than a tiny bit awkward.

Harry refuses to look Louis in the eye, hesitates when Louis goes to hold his hand, and moves his face last minute when Louis leans in for a kiss, causing Louis to end up kissing his cheek instead of his lips like planned.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asks, pulling Harry into an empty hallway before he can go into the lunchroom.

“Nothing,” Harry says, not looking into Louis’s eyes.

Louis releases his grip on Harry’s wrists, using his right hand to move Harry’s fringe out of his face and the other to lie against his cheek.

“Seriously, Haz. What’s wrong? You can tell me, I promise I won’t get mad. Do you not like how much attention I’m giving you at school? If I’m making you feel uncomfortable, baby, tell me, yeah?” Louis offers and shit, he seriously hopes to himself that he hasn’t fucked this up because if he has, where the fuck is he supposed to get 100 quid from?

Harry’s cheeks burn scarlet red and he bites hard into his lower lip.

“I – um. It’s not, it isn’t that. I just. I can’t tell you,” Harry says, his eyes trying to find something on the ground to focus on.

Louis sighs, “Yes you can, Haz. You can tell me anything, I swear it. Don’t be ashamed or afraid to tell me anything. Especially not if I’m coming on too hard, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, okay?”

“I wanked last night, okay?” Harry spits out and then his hand comes up to cover his mouth and he shuts his eyes tight.

“And that’s made you feel like you’ve got to avoid me? It’s okay to touch yourself, you know. It’s actually really fucking hot to think about,” Louis says, and really, it is. He’s got to try to rid the image that he’s getting in his head because if he thinks of Harry, laying on his bed with his thighs spread out and a hand on his dick, he’s going to get hard, and he can live his whole life without getting hard at school honestly.

Harry’s hand drops to his side and his eyes pop wide open, “T-that’s not it. I, erm. I was thinking about you when I did it? Like, when you got dressed in front of me, I was thinking about you getting undressed for a different reason and then before I knew it, I was touching myself thinking about you touching me instead and I just feel really guilty about it.”

Louis licks his lips, because, well, shit.

“God, Haz. There isn’t anything wrong with it. If it makes you feel better, I had a wank thinking about you last night, too. I have since we started dating, actually, and even before. You’re just so damn sexy I can’t help but to have my thoughts drift to you when I’ve got my hand on my cock,” Louis says and jesus, he wasn’t planning on telling Harry all of that. He just wanted to reassure him that there was nothing wrong with thinking about him while he wanked, but damn. Maybe he needs a filter.

“Really?” Harry asks, and his eyes are so bloody wide and dark and, shit, this is so not fucking happening to Louis while they’re at bloody _school_ for fuck’s sakes.

Louis hums, “God, yeah. You and your stupid bloody hair and stupid face and long limbs and god I could go on and on about your fucking long arse legs, I want to lick them and bite your thighs and god, I want your thighs around my face and I want to do so many dirty fucking things to you, Harry.”

Harry squeaks, and doesn’t reply. Louis suddenly comprehends what he’s just said and shit, shit, _shit_ , did he just fuck everything up?

“God, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Louis apologizes, taking a step back from Harry and shaking his head, god, he does need a filter.

But Harry smiles and shakes out his hair and maybe Louis hasn’t fucked up half as much as he thinks he has. His eyes trail down Harry’s body and, no, he definitely did not say the wrong thing, judging by how hard Harry looks between the two layers of clothing he’s wearing.

“It’s okay,” Harry says after Louis’s eyes roam back up. Harry’s voice is scratchy and unbelievably deeper than usual. The sound goes straight to Louis’s dick.

“Yeah? You sure? I haven’t fucked anything up, then?” Louis asks, taking a step closer to Harry until their chests are touching.

Harry shakes his head, “No, but maybe you shouldn’t say things like that… at least not while we’re in school.”

~~~~~

When Friday rolls around, Harry isn’t sure how he hasn’t died yet.

The anticipation of what’s to come tonight (or more like, what isn’t to come, he reminds himself) is killing him, making him jumpy and antsy. He knows that Louis promised all they would do would be to watch movies, but Harry isn’t one hundred percent positive that he was telling the truth. In fact, he’s sure that he’s lying, if the way that he’s been particularly trying to rile Harry up for the last two days.

“So you’re going to his house for the night, then?” Anne asks, eyebrows cocked up in question.

Harry blushes, “Just for movies, I swear.”

“Do you think I should believe you?” she asks, smiling knowingly. (And shit, Harry’s still embarrassed about her walking in on him wanking yesterday, but jesus fucking Christ it isn’t his fault that Louis had sent him a shirtless picture of him. It was meant to be silly, by the way that he had his finger resting on the corner of his mouth and his tongue sticking out, but it still made Harry hard.)

“Yes!” he yells, defensively, “I’m not going to bloody do anything with him, mum. You know I’ve never… and we’ve only been together for like almost a month and I don’t think I’m ready for anything yet.”

“But if something does happen, promise me to be safe?” she asks, sternly.

Harry blushes, but nods, “Yes, mum, if we happen to have sex I will make sure he’s wearing a condom.”

“So he’ll be top, then?” she asks, “I knew it! Gemma owes me twenty pounds.”

Harry’s eyes go wide, “Mum! Are you serious? Did you and Gemma really bet on my sex life?”

“Oh, look! It’s time for you to go! You don’t want to be late! Remember: don’t do anything you don’t want to do, and if you happen to do something you do want to do, be safe! I love you, baby. Call me when you wake up in the morning, yeah?” Anne says, kissing Harry on the forehead.

Harry rolls his eyes, but tells her he loves her too and promises he’ll call as soon as he wakes up the next morning.

\------

“So you would bottom?” Louis asks, smirking, “And your mum made a bet with your sister about it?”

“I don’t – I don’t know if I would,” Harry says, and his face is really on fire now, “I just kind of, like, figured I would? Because I like being taken care of and I also heard that you – erm – you don’t bottom? So I figured it would be just like more convenient for both of us if we were to ever have sex for me to bottom.”

“I would bottom for you, if you wanted me to,” Louis says, smiling, “I think I’d do anything you wanted me to do, to be honest.”

And, god, why is it that lately everything that Louis says sounds so seductive and sexy?

“Erm,” is all Harry can make himself say.

Louis laughs, “Why do you get that way? Like every time we talk about something sex-related, you blush and get all tongue-tied. Trust me, it’s adorable, but I’m just curious.”

“I’m just not used to talking about sex-related things to anyone other than Zayn,” Harry admits.

“Mmm,” Louis hums and nods, “Have you, um, like – have you ever… did anything? With anyone?”

“I think you already know the answer to that,” Harry responds quietly because it isn’t hard to figure out that Harry’s never gone farther than a bit of grinding against his previous boyfriend and snogging.

“I wanna hear you say it, though, make sure I’m right. Because if you haven’t, then when we do.. you know, it’s gonna be really romantic and cheesy,” Louis says, smiling that smile that he has just for Harry (or at least Harry likes to think that it’s just for him) where his eyes crinkle at the sides.

“I’ve never done anything with anyone before,” Harry says and it feels funny admitting that part of information to his boyfriend. He’s always thought that if he ever did get another boyfriend, that he wouldn’t tell him that he was a virgin if he still was, because most boys like boys that know what they’re doing… right?

Louis smiles, “I like that about you, you know.”

Harry cocks his head to the side. He likes that he’s a virgin and he doesn’t know fucking anything about what to do with sex, at least not for real (his imagination and wanking thoughts don’t count)?

“Like what?” he asks.

“That you’re innocent. Like, I get the pleasure of teaching you how to do things. And like, I like how you didn’t just give up your virginity like it was nothing. It makes me wish I’d have done the same.”

“Can you tell me?” Harry asks, “About when you lost your virginity, I mean.”

“Um, it was at a party, actually. Like, I was 13, right, and I was just figuring out that I didn’t like girls and I read somewhere that if you didn’t like girls, it didn’t automatically mean you liked boys, something about asexuality or something. So, I wanted to find out if I liked boys or if I was just asexual. And I snuck into one of the senior’s parties because I knew some of the guys in senior year were gay and they didn’t really have a type, like, they didn’t really care who they were putting their dick in or who was putting their dick in them. I was too scared to bottom, so I went with who I thought was more of a bottom, so that if we did end up having sex, he wouldn’t expect me to bottom for him. And I didn’t even know the guy’s name, which is terrible, honestly. All I knew was that when I saw him my stomach did this funny twirling thing and then he was pushing me against a wall in some dark room and then we got on the bed and, yeah,” Louis says, rubbing his arm, “It wasn’t really the best thing in the world, now that I look back at it. But that night, during and after it happened, I felt like I was king, king of what… I don’t know. I just felt – on top of the world.”

“Wow,” Harry replies, because, really, that’s all he can say.

“So, ever since then, you – um – you top? Like, you’ve never bottomed before?” Harry asks suddenly, not even thinking before the words come tumbling out of his mouth.

Louis shakes his head, “No, it’s like – like I’m scared to, I dunno. Because like every time I’ve had sex it was like a quick meaningless shag and if I’m going to bottom I want to be sure that the person I’m with is going to take care of me, you know? Like, not be too rough and be gentle and slow.”

Harry bites his lip to keep himself from saying anything further, something stupid like _I’d take good care of you if we ever shagged_ or _I hope you’d do the same for me._

~~~~~

After they watch a movie, somehow, Harry let’s Louis kiss him, even though Louis promised no funny business. And, honestly, if Louis is kissing Harry, he can’t just not snog him half to death, because Harry’s _Harry_.

Louis’s got his tongue in Harry’s mouth, tangling with Harry’s own and searching Harry’s mouth, licking at behind his top teeth because he knows Harry’s ticklish there and he also knows that every time he does swipe his tongue there, Harry lets out a wrecked moan like he doesn’t want Louis to do it anymore, but he doesn’t want him to stop, either.

Louis crawls up into Harry’s lap, all pretenses thrown out the window when Harry’s hands are kneading into his sides like that and his tongue is in his mouth and he’s everywhere. Louis can’t even make sense of what is happening, his brain is so fuzzy with want.

“Can I touch you?” he asks against Harry’s lips, “I don’t even have to take your pants off, if you don’t want me to. I just wanna touch your cock, baby.”

He can feel Harry’s heavy exhale and shudder against him more than he can hear it and Harry goes stiff for a moment, but then his body relaxes.

“You – you can. Just – just touch, yeah? Nothing more, right?” Harry asks, and he sounds scared, almost.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to, babe,” Louis reminds him. He doesn’t want the thought of forcing Harry into anything on his conscience.

Harry shakes his head, “I want to – I just. I’m not ready for anything but touching.”

Louis hums, “Can I take your joggers and pants off, then? Just touching, I promise. But, god, I want to see you, baby. Wanna see how hard you are.”

Harry moans, his head falling back onto the sofa. Louis’s cock throbs, because Harry’s so responsive so easily and, god, if that isn’t the hottest fucking thing ever.

Louis takes that as an okay, and slowly peels Harry’s trousers and pants past his bum, letting them rest underneath his balls. He doesn’t want Harry to freak out, or feel self-conscience. Fully naked-ness is not an option yet, unfortunately.

Louis can feel Harry’s eyes boring holes into his head, but Louis can’t look anywhere other than Harry’s cock at the moment. This is what he’s been waiting for forever, been wanting to touch Harry, see Harry, and a lot of other things that will come later on, he’s sure.

He drags a finger up the length of Harry (and, god, is he fucking big, longer than Louis, but not thicker, not yet at least) and Harry lets out a shaky breath, but Louis can tell that it isn’t from nerves, but from how good it must feel to be touched for the first time by anyone other than himself and Louis hasn’t even got his hand around him yet.

“You’ve got a pretty cock,” Louis says to Harry, his eyes still not leaving Harry’s dick. He watches as he wraps a hand around Harry’s shaft, giving an experimental tug and has to bite his lip whenever a bead of precome falls out of the slit and Harry’s hips shift up into the touch.

Louis’s thumb shifts up to catch the bead of precome, using it as lubricant so that there isn’t a dry slide on Harry’s cock. The last thing he wants is this to feel uncomfortable because of dry skin, but he can’t very well lick his palm on the first time like a bloody fucking pornstar, can he?

He tightens his hand around Harry’s cock, pumping him slowly a few times, to where on every down stroke the red head of his cock pokes out of the foreskin, shiny and wet and oh so fucking pretty.

Harry’s hips keep wiggling and he keeps moaning, and Louis thanks to himself that he didn’t do this while his mum or sisters were in the house because they would have definitely heard Harry’s moaning.

“Is this good, baby?” Louis asks, thumbing at the skin underneath the head.

A loud, cut-off moan rips itself from Harry’s throat and his hips snap up impossibly hard and he’s coming, spunk getting caught in Louis’s fingers and falling onto his upper thighs and lower stomach. Louis slips away the fact that the underneath of the head of Harry’s cock is sensitive because that’ll be very useful for him whenever Harry finally lets him suck him off.

Harry lies there against the sofa, breathing harshly for a moment and then opens his eyes, looking at Louis.

“That was,” he says, cutting himself off with a deep sigh.

Louis laughs, leaning over Harry’s frame to peck his lips. “I’ll take you being speechless as a very good compliment.”

Harry smiles, and he’s blushing, for fuck’s sakes. “Did you, um, did you want me to get you off, too?”

And, yeah, shit, Louis would fucking love for Harry to get him off, but fuck him because he’s not going to let Harry touch him, not yet.

“You don’t have to, I’ll be okay,” Louis replies.

Harry shakes his head, “No – I want to. Please?”

And, shit, Harry’s fucking begging Louis to let him touch his dick and, fuck him, he can’t tell Harry no for anything.

Louis nods his head, leaning back against the sofa and pulls his joggers and pants underneath his balls, like he’d done with Harry. Harry blushes when he looks at Louis, and rests his head on Louis’s shoulder.

“Maybe, um, talk me through it? Like, tell me if I’m doing good or not,” Harry says and Louis can practically feel the blush on his cheeks.

“Okay,” he agrees.

Harry puts a tentative hand on Louis’s cock, fingers wrapping loosely around his dick, moving extremely slowly up the length of Louis.

“Maybe, um. Maybe,” Louis says, squirming, because of bloody course Harry’s a tease and he doesn’t even fucking know it, does he, “tighten your fist? Just a bit, like I had done with you. I like it – I like it tight.”

Harry listens to his advice, tightening his grip on Louis’s cock and starts to speed up his pace a bit when he hears the deep breathy moans coming from Louis on every upstroke.

“God, your doing so good, baby. You’re a natural, honestly,” Louis says, and shit, he’s going to end up saying the wrong thing if he keeps talking like Harry wants him to, so he surges down and captures Harry’s lips in between his own, sucking hard on his plump bottom lip.

The mix of Harry’s hand stroking his cock and Harry’s tongue moving languidly in his mouth pushes Louis over the edge seconds later, causing him to bite down particularly hard on Harry’s lip and moaning, releasing Harry’s lips and falling back against the sofa, just like Harry had.

Through all the time that Louis has had sex with random people, more experienced people than Harry, this was probably the hardest orgasm he’s ever had.

And that thought scares the utter, absolute shit out of him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i am too upset with myself to write a chapter summary for this chapter i apologize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> get your tissues ready ladies and gents the ride has begun

The next morning when Harry woke up, he was wrapped up in Louis’s arms on the sofa and there was something poking into his back. Knowing exactly what that something was, he decided best to ignore it, considering if it were him and Louis had known he had a hard-on from something he’d dreamt about, he would be embarrassed. Even though he and Louis are two complete opposites, he’s pretty sure that anybody would be slightly embarrassed about such a situation.

Harry peeled himself away from Louis, grabbing his overnight bag and finding his way to the bathroom. First, he brushed his teeth, and then pulled on a fresh set of clothes for the day. Next, he brushed thoroughly through his hair.

Once he was done getting himself tidied up, he went back into the living room to see a confused (yet adorable) Louis waking up and wondering where Harry was.

“There you are,” Louis yawned, rubbing at his eyes, “For a second I thought you left.”

Harry was aware of Louis’s frown and wanted nothing more than to kiss it off of his face, so he did just that.

Louis pushed him away, “Mm, don’t even think about it, babe. Haven’t brushed my teeth yet. Don’t wanna scare you away with morning breath when our relationships just getting good, now do I?”

“Doesn’t bother me,” Harry replies back. He’s sure he could put up with a tiny bit of morning breath if in return he gets to snog his boyfriend.

“You’re really happy this morning. Are you genuinely a morning person or is it because of the mind blowing orgasm I gave you last night?” Louis asks, smirking.

Harry blushes, “Uh – the latter?”

And Harry hadn’t even noticed he was particularly chipper this morning, but he did notice that he had a glowing-type mood ever since he woke up feeling loose and sated.

Louis hums, “Who knew all you needed was a hand job to loosen you up, eh?”

~~~~~~

Harry leaves after cooking them both breakfast, blushing when he gets a phone call from his mum saying it’s past the time they agreed for him to be home. He kisses Louis square on the mouth before he says his goodbyes, heading out the doorway and getting into his cute little car.

Louis, unashamed, watches his bum the whole time.

Once Harry is gone, though, he lets himself think about how much he’s really started to like the slightly-younger boy. He shakes his head, trying to rid the thoughts. Louis does not like anyone, at least, not in a boyfriend-type way.

To make himself focus on something or someone other than Harry, he calls Liam.

“Are you busy?” he asks once Liam answers with a “what?”

“Um… depends. If this has something to do with your bet then yes. But if it doesn’t, then no,” Liam replies.

“Cheeky,” Louis snorts, “Do you wanna come play a round of one on one footie with me or summat?”

“On my way,” Liam replies and then hangs up.

Louis sighs, a distraction, that’s what he needs.

\-------

After they’ve been playing footie for a while, Liam takes a break, sitting next to Louis and looks at him thoughtfully.

Louis furrows his eyebrows together in confusion, “Why’re you staring at me like that?”

“When were you going to tell me?” Liam asks, fixing him with the same look.

Louis looks to the ground, “Tell you what? That you’re getting better at footie than me? I don’t think you need me to reassure you of that, mate.”

Liam laughs and shakes his head, “No, that you actually like Harry.”

Louis’s head snaps up, “What?”

“You heard me,” Liam says, “I can tell you like him. I’ve known for the past week or so. Come on, Lou, you look at him like the sun shines out of his arse. I’m guessing, though, that you’ve just figured it out for yourself today, considering you called me for footie. You never call me for one on one footie, because you know I’ll kick your arse.”

“Maybe I just wanted to see if I could actually beat you without any help this once?” Louis offers because there’s no way he’ll admit to liking Harry, at least not aloud and to anyone other than himself.

Liam rolls his eyes, “Yeah, no I doubt that. Just admit it, Lou, you’ll feel a lot better about it if you do. You know you can tell me anything, we’re best mates, since, like, the womb or whatever. So.”

“I can’t, Li. I can’t say it, because once I say it out loud it’ll be real and once it’s real there’s no going back,” Louis says, the words coming out as a plea.

Liam scoots impossibly closer to Louis and puts a hand on his thigh, “It’s okay, Lou, I’m here for you, yeah?”

Louis leans his head on Liam’s shoulder and tries not to do something dramatic like cry.

~~~~~

“So, um,” Harry starts, “Do you want to, maybe, like… come swimming with me? Like, we’ve just got this huge in-ground pool in our backyard and it’s sick and I’ve been waiting for a sunny-ish day to go swimming, and um. Yeah, do you wanna?”

Louis intertwines their fingers and smiles, “Yeah, babe. I’d love to. I’ll come around sometime after I get back home after school, yeah?”

“Okay,” Harry smiles, because he really didn’t think Louis would.

They haven’t talked since he left Louis’s house four days ago, Louis hiding when Harry sees him and ignoring him. Harry’s been worried, practically crying to Zayn every night about it, making Zayn pissed at Louis even more than he already was.

“Yeah,” Louis replies and places a chaste kiss to Harry’s lips and Harry’s sure there’s hearts visible in his eyes because he hasn’t kissed Louis in four days or talked to him and he’s so smitten someone needs to throw holy water on him to calm him down a bit.

“So you’re done avoiding him, then?” Zayn grunts, sitting next to Harry and fixing Louis with an unfriendly glare.

“I don’t think if I was avoiding him was any of your concern, now, was it?” Louis snaps back and, shit, he shouldn’t have said that because Zayn’ll get mad and they’ll get in a fight and fuck Harry but he’s going to end up taking Louis’s side.

“Actually it was, Tomlinson, considering he thought you just shagged him and left him and that is definitely my fucking concern, since he is my best mate,” Zayn snaps back and his face is leaning closer to Louis and Harry’s panicking, oh god.

“Yeah, but last time I checked, _Malik_ , you weren’t apart of this fucking relationship so maybe you need to keep your fucking _nose_ in your own damn business and put your head up someone else’s arse other than Harry’s!” Louis yells at him, slamming his hands down on the table, half of his body up from the seat, leaning in Zayn’s direction.  

“Hey, stop,” Harry begs, pushing Louis back down into his seat. He turns to Zayn and fixes him with a pleading glare.

Zayn mumbles, “Fuck this,” and walks away.

“Why can’t you two just get along?” Harry turns to Louis, asking. He doesn’t like picking between his boyfriend and his best friend.

“He provoked me! I didn’t start it,” Louis says, putting his hands over his chest in a pout.

“I know he did, babe, but you didn’t have to get all macho and rude with him. You could have just ignored him,” Harry replies, but he knows ignoring something is easier said than done.

“Was he telling the truth? About you thinking I’d shagged and left you?” Louis asks, fixing Harry with a look that says _tell me the truth._

Harry nods, “Yeah, I mean. You ignored me for days after the fact, Lou. What was I supposed to think?”

Louis doesn’t answer.

~~~~~

Louis likes to think that the shithole of a thing to happen in the cafeteria today was the end of his bad luck, but, considering he’s apparently got bad luck, it isn’t.

\-----

He and Harry have been swimming for hours, it seems, but it’s only been one hour and fifteen minutes.

“I’m gonna go get a water and some fruit, you want anything?” Harry asks, lifting himself up to get out of the pool, Louis has to control the way his eyes wander down the boy’s lean, long back all the way down to his pert little bubble bum.

When Harry comes back, he looks like he’s just gotten hit by a truck.

Louis gets up from where he’d sat down on one of the chairs on the deck to wait for Harry and walks up to him, frowning.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asks, hand going to rub circles into Harry’s knuckles.

Harry pulls away, “Do not baby me, Louis Tomlinson.”

“W-what? Why? Harry, why are you mad at me? What’s wrong, Haz?” he tries again and Harry just fixes him with a blood-curdling stare.

“I can’t bloody believe that for one minute I thought you actually had feelings for me,” Harry says, and Louis’s sure there’s more hurt than anger in that statement, but, shit, shit, how did Harry even fucking find out? He can’t be thinking of the same thing Harry’s thinking of because, oh god, no this is not happening.

“Haz, what are you talking about?” Louis asks and Harry just gives him his phone.

“I want you to leave, and never talk to me again, god, I should have fucking listened to Zayn,” Harry says, the last bit to himself, shaking his head.

“Harry, please, don’t do this,” Louis begs because he does like him, he actually does, but he doesn’t have the bloody fucking courage to say it aloud or explain himself to Harry.

He doesn’t have the courage to tell Harry the truth, how he really feels about him, so instead he just walks away and to his car, tears brimming his stupid bloody fucking eyes, and hits his head on the steering wheel because he’s a fucking idiot. He goes to send a text to Liam and ask him to come over because he needs someone to fucking comfort him, okay? But instead, a text from Niall that he hadn’t read before is marked read and he opens it.

_I heard Zayn say that you and Harry shagged, mate, I hope it isn’t true bc then I owe u 100 quid_


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tears, a lot of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for how long this chapter took, i was grounded... and now i present you with a short chapter, i promise the next one will be extremely long.

As soon as Louis is gone, his car and himself nowhere in sight, Harry allows himself to cry.

Once he’s gotten a hold of himself, he goes into the kitchen to get his phone and calls Zayn, voice scratchy from crying so hysterically.

“You were right,” is the first thing he says once Zayn answers.

“What?” Zayn asks in reply.

“You were right – about Louis. He was using me, Z. He and his mates had a bet going on about if he could get in my pants by the end of the month. Oh god, I should have listen to you, Zayn, I’m so sorry,” Harry says, crying some more.

Zayn exhales and Harry can tell he’s trying not to get up and go hurt Louis, knows that Zayn knows that Harry is the first priority for the moment, that he needs to calm him down first before he goes knock Louis’s face in.

“With who?” Zayn asks through gritted teeth, “Who did he make a bet with?”

“Niall – I don’t know if there was anyone else. I read a text that Niall sent him and, god, Z, when I confronted him he was acting like he didn’t even know what I was talking about. He had the nerve to act like he didn’t know what the fuck I was saying, like I was the nutter going on about nonsense,” Harry says.

“I can’t believe him, Haz. Trust me, he’s going to wish he didn’t do this to you. Do you want me to come over, babe?” Zayn asks.

Harry nods, crying some more, “Y-yeah, please? And, maybe bring me some chocolate ice cream? Like in the films.”

~~~~~

“I guess this means I get my 100 quid,” Niall says, “I thought I’d be happier with winning than this, but I can tell you’re really upset right now, mate. D’you want some tea or summat?”

Louis shakes his head and bites at his lip, it’s the only way he can keep himself from crying.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were starting to actually like him, man? And don’t deny it, you wouldn’t be this hurt if you didn’t have any feelings for the bloke. If you would have told me, we could have called it off and put it all behind us. I would have understood,” Niall says, taking a seat beside Louis on the couch.

“I was too afraid of admitting it. I’d never liked anyone before, y’know? And especially not like I like Harry. But now he hates me and I’ve fucked up and he’ll never talk to me again, Ni,” Louis says, and once he’s said it aloud, he can’t keep himself from crying.

He’s finally faced the reality: he does have feelings for Harry Styles. And not just feelings of lust or attraction, but feelings of almost-love and now that he’s lost him, he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“What am I going to do? If I tell him the truth, he’ll think I’m lying just to keep the bet going. He probably won’t even give me the time of the day now, let alone let me explain anything to him.”

Niall chews his bottom lip in thought, “Hmm. You’ve got a point, but maybe you could, like, corner him in school or summat and make him listen to what you have to say. And that’ll way, he won’t be able to hit you because he’s too worried about his record to do anything that he would do out of school, yeah?”

Louis shakes his head, “You’ve got points for trying, but there’s no way Zayn will let me anywhere near Harry. I’m sure Harry’s already told him what he thinks is going on and Zayn’s probably on his way to kill me right now, oh god, what if he hurts my mum to get to me?”

Niall rolls his eyes, “He wouldn’t do that. I doubt he’ll even try to fight you, I mean, Zayn doesn’t seem like the type. Like, he acts all big and bad, but Liam says he’s like a fluffy teddy bear, a poetic one at that. I dunno, though, Liam’s smitten with him, they might even be together, dunno. He talks about him all the time.”

Louis gives Niall a look, “What are you talking about? Liam never talks about Zayn.”

“Yeah, maybe not to you,” Niall says, “But every time it’s just me and him all he does is blabber on and on about ‘Zayn this’ and ‘Zayn that’. He’s smitten, I tell you, absolutely, horribly smitten.”

“If he liked him, he would have told me,” Louis defends, “Right? Like, he would have told me?”

Niall shrugs, “Dunno, ever since you and Harry started ‘dating’ or whatever, you haven’t actually hung out with us unless it was about the bet. So you probably haven’t given him the chance to tell you, mate.”

\--------

Once Louis gets home, somewhere around an hour later, he’s ready to take a bath, get drunk, and cry over his own self-pity.

He drops his keys and phone on his desk, and turns the light on to his room as he slips off his shoes.

“I know about it, you know,” someone says and Louis jumps, hand coming up to hold over his heart.

“Jesus, how the hell did you get in here?” he asks.

Zayn smirks, “Told your mum I was gonna surprise you, she showed me to your room. I don’t like what you did to Harry.”

“He never let me explain,” Louis says quickly, because jesus fucking Christ his mum let Zayn (who is probably borderline psychotic at the moment) into his room and he has nowhere to run if Zayn tries to punch him and he definitely is not in the mood to fight.

“Alright, then, explain to me. And if your story isn’t good enough, I’m going to punch you, hard, in the throat,” Zayn says, leaning back against Louis’s headboard with his hands crossed in front of his chest.

So Louis tells Zayn the story, every ounce of truth, being sure not to leave anything out. He tells him about how he’d watched Harry almost every day at school since he arrived, how the first time he’d ever seen Harry he’d been attracted to him more than he’s ever been attracted to anyone in his life. He told him about how Niall got fed up with him pinning and not acting on his lust and so he made a bet with him that he couldn’t get Harry into his bed by the end of the month and Louis couldn’t just not take a crack at it. He tells him about how much Louis found himself liking spending time with Harry and how much he liked the boy, not because of how attractive he was, but because Harry had the most amazing personality Louis had ever witnessed.

And finally, he tells Zayn about how he had figured out he actually had feelings for Harry and freaked the fuck out, calling Liam for footie and then getting called out on it and crying about it because he didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. He tells Zayn about how much he wished he would have told Harry, but he was scared shitless of losing Harry, once he had him.

Zayn watches him for a minute, his expression softened, but not soft.

“Do you actually like him or are you just trying to get your 100 quid?” Zayn asks, his head cocked to the side.

“I actually like him. The bet’s been called off, and even if I would have won, I wouldn’t have let myself take the money. If I like Harry this much and we’re only three weeks into the month, I don’t even know how much I’d feel for him once a month has passed,” Louis says.

“Okay,” Zayn breathes, “I may be an idiot, but I believe you. And I don’t like that Harry’s sad because of you. But, he was also happier than he’d ever been because of you. So, we need to come up with a plan to get Harry to talk to you about this and for you two to work it out. I can’t promise he’ll take you back, but I know once he listens to your story, he’ll forgive you.”

Louis almost smiles, “Okay, so, what do we do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment your ideas on what you think the plan may be!!! you never know, i might take your idea and put it in the next chapter!!! (with cred of course!!!!!)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> no spoilers sors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long to get out, i was actually busy for once in my life!!!! this is kind of a shitty ending, but i like the aspect of it.

Harry doesn’t know what to do with himself.

He feels insane, what with how much he’s been crying since he’d gotten off the phone with Zayn. He cries harder when he tries calling Zayn back, but Zayn doesn’t answer.

Harry wonders idly to himself how he didn’t see this coming. He was too blinded with the fact that the person he had been crushing on showed the same feelings back that he didn’t see the truth behind what was happening. He can’t believe he was stupid enough to fall for Louis Tomlinson when all of this was just some stupid bet to get him into bed. He was considering losing his virginity to Louis, too, which makes the situation ten times worse. He could have made the biggest mistake of his life all for 100 quid that Louis would be rewarded with for being a class A arsehole.

He tries to phone Zayn again, but to his poor luck, he receives no answer. Desperate times call for desperate measures and he phones Liam.

Liam answers on the third ring, obviously confused as to why Harry’s calling him. Harry and Liam aren’t really mates, more like acquaintances, but Harry likes Liam enough to have a chat with him and he’s also curious as to know if Liam was aware of the whole bet situation.

“Liam?” Harry asks.

“Harry, hi, what’s up? Are you crying?” Liam asks, concern painting his voice.

“Did you know?” is all Harry asks, sniffling. He tries to make himself stop crying so that Liam can hear him clearly, but it’s tough to get himself to stop.

“Know what, H?” Liam asks in reply, answering a question with a question. He sounds nervous, and at that moment Harry knows that Liam knew, too.

“You did know, didn’t you? You knew he was using me for a bet, and you didn’t say anything?” Harry half-yells. He feels hurt, but he also understands that Liam would be on Louis’s side and not his, considering they aren’t really friends.

“I was against it,” Liam replies, “Honestly, I was. I didn’t like the idea of it at all. But, Harry, he actually does have feelings for you. He wanted to call off the bet with Niall but he told me he’d rather lose than Niall know that he liked you because he knew Niall would take the piss. And he isn’t used to this; he isn’t used to liking people.”

“Don’t take up for him!” Harry says, “How could he do this to me, Liam? I’m such an idiot for thinking he even liked me.”

“He does like you, though, Harry. He does, I swear he does. You need to talk to him about this, let him explain everything. Or you’ll never know the truth.”

Liam hangs up and Harry screams in frustration. Of course Liam would lie for Louis to help him. This is probably all about the bet, too.

Harry sits down on the sofa in the living room and cries. How could he have gotten himself into this mess?

\----------

Somewhere around thirty minutes later, there’s a knock on the door. Harry gets up, looking through the peep hole for the door, and sees that it’s Zayn.

He answers the door and lunges for Zayn, hugging him and slotting his tear-streaked face in between his neck.

Zayn rubs his back, soothing him. “Let’s talk, yeah?”

Harry nods and they walk inside, going into the living room.

“So,” Zayn starts, sitting across from Harry, “I had a chat with Louis, and I think you should talk to him, too.”

Harry shakes his head, sniffling, “I don’t want to talk to him.”

“I think you should hear what he has to say, Haz,” Zayn pleads.

Harry eyes him, “What did he tell you? You hated him earlier, and now suddenly you’re on his side?”

“He just proved to me that he actually does like you, H. He’s torn up. He’s probably worse than you are right now. You need to listen to him, if you don’t, you might regret never hearing his side of the story, but then by then it’ll be too late.”

“I need time before I see him again, Z. If I see him again now, I might kill him. I can’t believe I was just a part of a stupid fucking bet,” Harry shakes his head. “But the worst part is that he would have won. I was falling for him and I would have had sex with him if he would have asked me to. We did do some stuff and it was only a matter of time before we did more.”

“But he didn’t let you do anymore because he actually likes you and he didn’t want your first time to be all a part of a bet that he didn’t even want anything to do with anymore. He knows he fucked up, Haz. But if you don’t let him explain himself, you’ll never know the real story.”

~~~~~~

Louis sits impatiently in the passenger seat of Zayn’s car. Zayn had just walked into Harry’s house and Louis was silently praying that Harry would walk outside any moment and let Louis explain himself to him.

Louis didn’t know what to do with himself when he noticed he had been sitting in the car for far longer than he and Zayn had expected. That meant that Harry didn’t want to talk to Louis; that Zayn was still inside trying to get him to come outside to speak to him.

A few minutes later (after Louis had almost resorted to tearing his hair out) he saw Zayn walk out of the house with Harry in tow behind him, looking angry and sad all at the same time. Harry’s eyes locked with Louis’s and Louis smiled to him, Harry giving him a scowl in return. Louis wanted to cry.

“I practically had to drag him out of the house, so be quick before he changes his mind and runs back in,” Zayn says once he’s up to the car.

Louis gets out, leaning against the car and stares at Harry. He doesn’t know where to start.

“I really want to hit you right now,” Harry says, sniffling.

“Zayn, can you give us a moment?” Louis asks. He would rather not have an audience while he’s talking to Harry, especially if Harry does decide to hit him.

Zayn nods, walking away and going inside of Harry’s house. Once the front door is closed, Harry speaks up.

“Alright, you wanted to talk, so talk.”

“I know you saw the text from Niall, and I can’t tell you that it isn’t what it looks like, because it’s exactly what it looks like. But you do deserve the truth,” Louis says, and Harry nods, letting him continue. “Ever since you came to school, I liked you. I told myself that it wasn’t a feeling, it was just lust, but I think deep down inside I knew that I was just lying to myself. One day, at lunch I was staring at you while you talked to Zayn. Niall brought up something about ‘I bet you can’t get Harry Styles into your bed before the month’s up’. I didn’t want to take the bet, because I knew I’d lose. I knew that there was no way you’d let me in, and that I’d mope around for ages after the rejection because I knew you were too good for me. But I wanted to take the chance, so I took the bet. And I made a move. About a week or so ago, I started to notice that it wasn’t really about the bet anymore, that when we were spending time together it wasn’t so that I could get you into bed with me. I wanted to hang out with you because I liked being around you. Liam figured out that I was starting to like you and he tried to make me admit it. I ended up crying on his shoulder because I knew I did have feelings for you and that scared the shit out of me. I wanted to call of the bet with Niall, but I knew that if I had he would know that I liked you and I couldn’t admit it to anyone else at the moment. I’d never liked anyone before, so it was hard for me to keep spending time with you knowing that the bet was still going. I was going to tell you about it after I lost, because I figured showing that I lost would let you know that I did actually like you because I wouldn’t be forcing you into bed with me before the month was up. But then you saw the text and I literally saw my life flash before my eyes. I never wanted to hurt you, Harry, and I hate myself for hurting you. I understand if you hate me and never want to see me again, now, but I would really appreciate it if you didn’t shut me out.”

Harry stares at him for a long time, his jaw set.

“Why did you want to take the bet even though you figured it was a bad idea?” Harry asks, finally.

Louis shrugs, “I guess because I figured that if I did win and I finally shagged you, I would get over the little crush I had on you. And if I didn’t win, and you rejected me and wanted nothing to do with me, then I would still get over you. It was a win-win situation for me in my mind, but I never thought any of this would happen.”

“So, you actually like me?” Harry asks, eyebrows scrunched together as he tries to piece everything together.

Louis nods, “Yeah, I do. I like you, Harry Styles, and not just because I want to get into your bed. But because you’re an amazing person with a good personality and sense of humor and I just feel generally happier when I’m around you.”

Harry smiles, “I like you, too, but I don’t know if I can trust you. What you did wasn’t a good thing, and in order for me to trust you – and maybe take you back – you’re going to have to prove to me that I can trust you and that you’re serious about liking me.”

Louis nods. “I can do that. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Harry. You can take your time with forgiving me, just please don’t shut me completely out of your life. For now, if you want, we can just be friends. And if you ever want me back, we can be more. I’m perfectly okay with whatever you want. I just want you to be able to trust me and not hate me ever again.”

“Mates, then?” Harry asks.

And as much as it hurts Louis to not have Harry in the way he wants to, it hurts him more to know that he’s hurt Harry.

Louis nods, “Mates.”

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated! thank you for reading! you can find me on tumblr @ lewistumlinsin (come be my friend it will be appreciated)


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